Envelop.



I ED srarnsrarnnr enrich.

some 'wnunenwrrz, or MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN.

I Speciiicatibn of Letters Yatent. Patented Aug, 11 1914i Application filed April 15, 1913. Serial No. 761,381.

To all whom-it may concern:

Be it knownthatl, OHN WV; BURGEWITZ, cltlzen of the United States, residing at Muskegon, in the county of 'Muskegon and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelops, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in envelops, more particularly to the class of safety envelope for protecting the contents from surreptitious access, and has for one of its objects to improve the construction and increase the efliciency and utility of devices of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructed envelop which effectually protects the contents and without materially increasing the expense of manufacture or interfering with the ordinary uses of the envelop.

Vith these and other objects in View the invention consists in certain novel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described and then specifically pointed out in the claim.

The improved envelop may be construct ed of any required size and of any required material, and may be applied to any of the various forms of envelops in which a closure flap is employed, and it is not desired therefore to limit the invention to any special form of envelop, but for the purpose of illus-, tration the improvement is shown applied to an ordinary envelop, and in the drawings illustrative of the preferred embodiment of the invention: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional envelop from the mail receiving side and shown in open position. Fig. 2 is a similar View with the envelop closed. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Corresponding andlike parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

The improved envelop comprises a body or front portion 10 with back-flap 11, and end flaps 12-13 and the closure flap 14. The end flaps 12-13 are foldable upon the body 10 and the back flap 1 1 is foldable over the folded end flaps with thesuperimposed portions secured by the usual adhesive.

Formed through the overlapping portions of.

the flaps 111213 are clefts 15 and with branch clefts 16 leading from the main cleft 15 and preferably converging at their inner end whereby intermediate tongues 17 are produced which are'superimposed when the envelop is closed; .1 V q I Extending'from the closure flapl l is a tongue 18 and foldable intermediate its ends as shown at 19. Attached to the portion of.

tile tongue in advance of the fold 19 is a reinforcing member 20 which there by in-' creases the thicknessof the tongue externally. of the fold. The distance between the root 19 or inner portion ofthe tongue 18 and the fold 25 of the closure flap corresponds to the distance from the fold 25 of the closure flap to the longitudinally extending registering cleft 15, so that when the closure flap 14 is disposed in folded posit-ion and the reinforced portion of the tongue 18 thrust through the registering clefts.15 with the reinforced portion of the tongue 18 doubled back upon itself beneath the overlapping portions of the flaps, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 the reinforcing member 20 is thus disposed wholly wi hin the envelop and bearing against the i ner face of the inner tongue 17, while the body of the tongue 18 of the closure flap covers and protects the relatively fragile tongues 17. The edges of the closure flap 14 and the inner face of the tongue and likewise the inner face of the reinforcing member are provided with an adhesive indicated at 21, so that when the envelop is to be closed the adhesive will be moistened and thus caused to adhere to the outer surface of the end back flap 11 and the end flaps 12 and likewise adhere to the inner face of the envelop. By this means the envelop is thoroughly secured and any attempt at surreptitious opening will cause the fracture of the relatively light tongues and thus disclose the fact that the envelop has been tampered with.

The improved envelop is also provided with means for quickly opening the same, and consisting in a pull thread 22 located within the envelop with one terminal secured to a stay member 23, preferably of tough paper or fabric, and secured as by cementing against the front 10 of the on velop in one corner, and with the opposite terminal of the thread extending through the opposite end of the envelop and provided wit-h a knot 24 in its outer end. The

stay member 23 is located against the folds of the envelop at one corner so that the thread 22 lies against one edge of the envelop on the inside.

The projecting portion including the'knot 24 hangs looselyand does not interfere with v the handling of the envelop, while at the same time the envelop may be quickly torn open by grasping the knotted end of the thread and pulling, upon the latter. The stay member 23 is an important feature of the invention andsecurely connects the'pull thread to the envelop. 1o.-

1 is claimed as new is:

said flaps having slits in their overlapping thebody of the envelop andwhich register Having thus described-the invention, what portions and extending longitudinally of v envelop is closed, a closure flap, a tongue extending from the closure flap. and foldable intermediate the ends with the folded portion passing through the' longitudinally extendingregistering slits and concealing and protecting the superimposed tongues.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature v v v in'pres'ence of two witnesses. 'An envelop including back and end flaps,

JOHN WfBURGEl VITZ L 8.

Witnessesf EDWARD DAMHoRsT, .H. .E. R1011. 

